Craig Borland

Bute County Cricket Club is to become the first team in the sport’s west of Scotland league set-up to pilot a new artificial pitch for their matches.

The club has bought a new Flicx pitch with a £3,000 SportScotland lottery grant, awarded last month.

The club, part of the Western District Cricket Union, had originally applied for a £4,500 grant award, but received a £1,500 discount on the cost of the new pitch as a result of being a member of the Rothesay community sport hub.

Alan Peacock from Bute County Cricket Club told a meeting of the sport hub on Monday: “We can use the new pitch anywhere we want - you could put it down on a car park and play a game.

“We’ve spoken to our league’s organisers and they’ve said they’re willing to use us as a ‘guinea pig’ - if we get one game played on this pitch which wouldn’t have been played otherwise, they’re willing to roll out the idea across the league.”

* Full story in the next issue of The Buteman - on sale from Thursday, October 23.